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A65611 The method and order of reading both civil and ecclesiastical histories in which the most excellent historians are reduced into the order in which they are successively to be read, and the judgments of learned men concerning each of them, subjoin'd / by Degoræus Wheare ... ; to which is added, an appendix concerning the historians of particular nations, as well ancient as modern, by Nicholas Horseman ; made English and enlarged by Edmund Bohun, Esq. ...; Reflectiones hyemales de ratione & methodo legendi utrasque historias, civiles et ecclesiasticas. English Wheare, Degory, 1573-1647.; Horsman, Nicholas, fl. 1689. Mantissa.; Bohun, Edmund, 1645-1699. 1685 (1685) Wing W1592; ESTC R6163 182,967 426

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deplored SECT XV. Where the Course of the Roman Story is to be begun Lucius A. Florus commended The Judgments of Learned Men concerning him That he is not the same with the Epitomizer of Livy His Mistakes excused his Method of Writing By what means in probability Errours crept in The Consulary Fasts of Sigonius and Onuphrius Pighius his Annals commended SECT XVI In what order the Roman History is to be continued Dionysius Halycarnassaeus commended How many years his History contains the Reason given why he is Recommended in the first place and confirm'd from J. Bodinus SECT XVII T. Livius is much and de servedly admir'd in what time he lived How many Books he writ by whom divided into Decads In what order to be Read How the History may be enlarged or supplied The Praise and Elogy of Plutarch SECT XVIII The second Decad of T. Livy that is from the X th to the XXI th Book is lost How and whence that loss may be supplied Appianus Alexandrinus What opinion Learned Men have of him SECT XIX When the remaining XXV Books of Livy are to be read What other Authours may confirm or illustrate the History of the same times The Nine last Decads and half the Tenth are lost From whence they may be supply'd The History of Salustius commended and also Caesar's Commentaries both by the Learned Men of the present and Ancient times SECT XX. Of Dion Cassius and his History How many Books he writ How many perished and how great the loss Vellejus Paterculus to be worthily ranked amongst the best Historians and yet his faults are not dissembled A Transition to the Writers of the Lives of the Caesars SECT XXI Suetonius and Tacitus are first to be read The famous testimonies of the most Learned Men concerning them The Judgments of the most eminent of the Criticks differ that I may not say contest each with other concerning Tacitus Light may be derived both to Suetonius and Tacitus from Dion Cassius SECT XXII How to pass on to the other Writers of the Augustan Story viz. Spartianus Capitolinus Volcatius and the other Authours which are not to be lightly esteemed The Judgment of Justus Lipsius and Casaubon concerning them Herodian is to be read in his place with the rest How far these go in the History And that amongst them Aurelius Victor and Pomponius Laetus deserve to be admitted SECT XXIII After Constantius Chlorus and a little before the History is a little perplex'd especially in the Latin Writers Eusebius Zozimus and Zonaras will render it more easie Of Zozimus and Zonaras and their Writings ' and also of Jornandes Ammianus Marcellinus has his place here The opinion of Lipsius and Balduinus the Civil Lawyer concerning the latter SECT XXIV Diaconus his Miscellane History and that of Jornandes concerning the Goths and of Procopius and Agathias who may be placed here or if you please the Third Tome of Zonaras who is followed by Nicetas Choniates and then Nicephorus Gregoras or if this seems too Prolix after Zozimus Blondius Forolivienfis may be read or else after Vopiscus Sigonius his History of the Western Empire may be admitted and from thence the Reader may pass to the Seventh or Eighth Book of the first Decad of Blondius SECT XXV Johannes Cuspinianus Paulus Jovius and Augustus Thuanus will furnish the Reader with a shorter view of the History of the Roman Emperours from the beginning of the Caesars to our own times SECT XXVI Some Writers of particular Histories that best deserve to be read are enumerated Guicciardine Paulus Aemilius Philippus Commines whose noble Elogies are remembred Meteranus Chromerus and Bembus SECT XXVII A Transition to the British Story How the Reader should prepare himself for the Reading of it In what order he should go on Camden's Britannia and Selden's Analecta are first to be Read and then George Lillies Chronicon The Compendium of the British History SECT XXVIII Gulielmus Malmesburiensis Sir Henry Savil's and Camden's Judgment of him Where he began and ended his History Galfredus Monumethensis why to be omitted The Censures of Neubrigensis John of Withamsted Bales and Jo. Twin upon his History from all which Virunnius dissents H. Huntingdonensis follows Malmesburiensis and Hoveden him SECT XXIX The History of Asser Menivensis is commended in what order to be read with the former as also Eadmerus Matheus Parisiensis Baronius his judgment of him Thomas Walsingham his History The Actions of King Stephen by an unknown Pen. The Life of Edw. II. by Sir Thomas de la Moor is to be taken in in due time SECT XXX Walsingham's Hypodigma Neustria or History of Normandy and the other Writers not to be neglected and amongst them Odoricus Vitalis of Principal note Polidore Virgil has writ the History from Henry the IV th to Richard the IIId concerning whom the Censure of the most noble Sir H. Savil is observable Richard thee IIId was written by Sir Tho. Moor Kt. and Lord Chancellour of England Henry the VII th by the Earl of St. Albans Henry the VIII th Edward the VI th Queen Mary by Francis Godwin Bishop of Landaff by way of Annals As also that of Queen Elizabeth by William Camden SECT XXXI Though we have no intire body of our history in Latin written according to the dignity of the subject yet in English John Speed has writ an excellent Theatre of the British Empire to be in the first place contemplated by the youth of this Nation and especially of those who design to travell The Addition concerning the Histories of Particular Nations ARTICLE I. The design and order of this Appendix In what order we should proceed in the Particular histories The principal historians of the several Nations are to be selected and the historians of the latter times compared with the more ancient ARTICLE II. The historians of the Germans and of all the People from the Alpes to the Baltick Sea and from the Rhine to the Vistula to which the history of the Goths Vandals Huns Heruls Switzers Longobards Polonians Muschovites Danes and Swedes are to be added ARTICLE III. The Austrian historians ARTICLE IV. The historians of the Huns and Hungarians ARTICLE V. The historians of the Goths Danes Sclavonians and Swedes ARTICLE VI. The historians of the Longobards ARTICLE VII The historians of the Borussians and Poles ARTICLE VIII The historians of the Bohemians Switzars and Saxons ARTICLE IX The historians of Celts or Galls and French under which name we include all which are enclosed by the Rhine Pyrenaean Hills the Alpes and the Ocean ARTICLE X. The historians of the Netherlands Dutch and Flandrians ARTICLE XI The Spanish historians ARTICLE XII The historians of the Turks and Arabians who heretofore had the Dominions of Syria Persia Africa and Spain and were commonly call'd Saracens ARTICLE XIII The historians of Aethiopia India almost all Africa and of the New World or America ARTICLE XV. The historians of some great Cities SECT XXXII A Transition
much fidelity and industry that he seems to be the onely man amongst all our Writers who hath performed the part of a good Historian and the famous Camden speaks thus of him both the Civil and Church History of England is much in debt to that man He writ in V Books the History of the Actions of the Kings of England from the year of Christ 449 in which the English and Saxons entered Britain to the year 1116 which was the XVI th year of the Reign of Henry the first to which he afterwards added two Books more from the XX th year of that Kings Reign to the 8 th year of King Stephen which was the year of Christ 1143 in which times he Lived There are some who advise the beginning with Jeffery of Monmouth because he begins his History much higher and affirms that one Brutus a great Grandchild of Aeneas and LXVIII Kings besides Reigned here for about one thousand years before Caesar entred Britain but we thought it very fit to pass him by because he seems to write of things that are very obscure and dark by reason of their Great Antiquity and are involved with mere fabulous Stories nor have we done or spoken this upon our own private judgment onely many Learned men having said the same thing before us Neubrigensis who Lived not long after Jeffery of Monmouth speaks thus In our times saith he there Sprung up a certain Writer who to Expiate the faults of the Britains set forth a number of ridiculous inventions extolling their Vertue and Valour with an impudent Vanity above the Macedonians and Romans his Name was Jeffery and he was Nicknamed Arthur because taking the Fables of the ancient Britains concerning Arthur out of their old Romances and encreasing them with his own Additions and giving them the Varnish of the Latine Tongue he Cloathed them with the Honourable Name of an History He also with greater boldness published the fallacious divinations of one Merlin which he hath also improved by his own Additions whilst he turned them into Latine for Authentick Prophecies which were grounded upon unmoveable truth John of Withamsted who flourished in the time of Henry the VI th doth in part agree with William of Newbury According to other Histories saith he which in the judgment of some deserve more Credit this whole process concerning Brute is rather Poetical than Historical and for many causes seems to be founded in fancy rather than in any Reality and Bale confesseth that there are many things in his History which exceed belief and John Twin a diligent searcher out of the British Antiquities calls him the British Homer the Father of Lies but Ponticus Virunnius a very Learned man in the esteem of Vossius who lived above 130 years since and reduced Jeffery's History into an Epitome passing by the fabulous parts of it bestows this Elogy upon him Jeffery of Monmouth was a famous Historian and a Cardinal a man of much Authority with Robert Duke of Gloster Son of Henry II King of England he was a great favourer of his Countrey and Collecting a History of the most ancient times from the Records of their Kings and out of their highest Philosophy he continued the same in an uninterrupted Series from the times of the Trojans That his History is most true will appear from the Custome of the Western Kings which was to have always some with them who should faithfully relate their greatest Actions and John Leland also defends him against Newbury and Polidore Virgil he flourished about the year of Christ 1160 under Henry the II. But however as I said before for these reasons we have passed him by and rather put our Reader upon William of Malmesbury Henry Archdeacon of Huntington follows next who in VIII Books shewing the Origine of our Nation and continuing the History of King Stephen and his Successours goes on to the year 1153 he wrote many other excellent Pieces which would enrich our History but that they lie concealed from the World in Manuscripts in Libraries Polidore Virgil styles him an excellent Historian and John Leland an approved writer he flourished about the year of Christ 1160. William of Newbury beginning with the Death of Henry the first continues the History a little farther to wit to the year 1197 he is a great lover of truth in the opinion of Polydore Virgil but he is sharply reprehended by John Leland because in reprehending Jeffery of Monmouth he kept no mean he flourished about the year of Christ 1220. To Conclude Roger Hoveden deduced our History to the year of Christ 1202 in his Annals which he hath divided into two parts that is to the IV th year of King John's Reign in whose time this Authour flourished An ADDITION There is a passage cited by Mr. Selden concerning this last Authour out of John Leland which I think worth the inserting here Simeon Dunelmensis is to be deservedly reckoned with the principal Monks of his Age He very well understanding that the things which had happened beyond the Severn both by reason of the sloath and negligence of their Writers in the fury of so many Danish Wars and also by the injury of time were so obscured and oppressed that in a short time the memory of them would be lost except the diligence of some Learned man repaired the memory of them by Collecting them together and digesting them into order entered into a serious Consultation with himself how he might prevent this mischief deliberating a long time with himself that which was most necessary and usefull offered it self at last to him which was carefully to search out the remainders of those ancient Libraries which had been Ruined by the Danes c. for the Monks had preserved some fragments of them whilst they fled from the fury of their Enemies c. All these the curious diligence of Simeon sought out found and examined so that his ardent Care had no remission till he had brought the History of the Northumbrian Kingdom from the times of Bede to the Reign of King Stephen the Usurper I design not saith he in this place to write the praises of Simeon his work is immortal and will Live though I say nothing of it onely I would have the Reader take notice that there was one Roger Hoveden a not unlearned man who in the same order with Simeon hath deduced the History from Bede to the Reign of King John whom as I cannot but commend for his History of our Ancestours so I must needs blame him that he rifled the Flowry Meads of Simeon ' s History without ever mentioning his Name the same Leland calls him in another place as Mr. Selden acquaints us a Commendable person with the former exception notwithstanding and Mr. Selden tells us hereupon that many men thought these two works were the same but saith he as it is most certain that R. Hoveden made use of Simeon ' s Annals
as he did of many other written in Latine and Saxon and that he begins where Bede ends as Simeon doth but yet it will appear to any person who shall compare these two together that Hoveden has an innumerable number of things which Simeon hath not and that there are some things again in Simeon which R. Hoveden passed by so that he is not to be esteemed a plagiary in relation to Simeon but rather a very diligent Writer who hath Collected from Simeon and many others who went before him and made out of all a copious single work which is usually done by the best Historians of all Ages When our Authour wrote this method of Reading Histories this Simeon Dunelmensis was not Printed but in the year 1652 this and nine other ancient Historians were first published together and out of Mr. Selden's Prolegomena's to them I have transcribed the passage above which will give the Reader a fuller account of R. Hoveden and at the same time present Simeon Dunelmensis to him as a person worthy of his observation This History begins as the Title tells us after the Death of Bede Anno Domini 732 and it ends Anno Domini 1129 it contains the History of CCCCXXIX years and IV months Joannes Hagustaldensis continued this History XXV years that is from the year 1130 to the year 1154 which was the 19 th and last year of King Stephen's Reign he flourished under Henry the Second and Richard the first he was a very good witness of what he Wrote as Living in or very near those times he represents he was a most excellent and a most diligent Writer as Mr. Selden styles him Richardus Hagustaldensis wrote the IV first years of the Reign of King Stephen which are Printed immediately after the former Ailredus Rievallis Abbas wrote amongst other things a Genealogie of the Kings of England to Henry the Second Radulphus de Diceto Dean of St. Paul's in London wrote an Abbreviation of the Chronicles from the year 589 to the year 1147 where he begins another work which he calls the Images of History which he continues to 1199 or the beginning of King John's Reign Joannes de Brompton wrote a Chronicle from the arrival of Augustine the Monk Anno Christi 588 to the beginning of King John's Reign 1199 which is especially valuable for a Collection and version of the Saxon Laws in Latine made in the time of Edward the third at the least he was an industrious Student as Vossius speaks of him and wrote in the Reign of Edward the third Gervasius Dorobernensis wrote a Chronicle from the year 1112 to the year 1199 which was from the 12 th year of Henry the first to the Death of Richard the first he was made a Monk about the year 1142 he was as Leland saith of him Studious of Antiquities above belief and for that end Collected a vast number of Historians especially of those who accurately handled the British and Saxon affairs till at last he himself entred the Lists and made tryal of his own parts by publishing an excellent Volume in which he deduced the History of the Britains from their Original together with that of the Saxons and the valiant atchievements of the Normans to the Reign of King John thus far Leland of him but whether the beginning of this History is lost I cannot say but we have onely this Printed which I have mentioned of the particular English History Henricus Knighton Leicestrensis wrote a Chronicle of the Events of England as he styles it in his first Book he gives a short account of some Saxon and Norman affairs from the time of Edgar who began his Reign Anno Christi 958 to the Reign of William the Conquerour and then he writes more largely to the year 1395 which was the 19 th year of Richard the Second in whose times this Historian flourished All these Authours were Printed in one body by Cornelius Bee in the year 1652 under the Title of the ten Writers of the English History before which time they were onely Extant in Manuscripts in Libraries and so could not possibly be taken into our Authour's method as I observed before SECT XXIX Asser Menevensis his History commended in what time to be read with the former as also Eadmerus his History Matthew Paris his History Baronius his judgment of him Thomas of Walsingham his Chronicle the actions of King Stephen written by an unknown Authour the Life of Edward the Second by Sir Thomas de la Moore Knight is also to be taken in due time I Must confess those latter Historians do not make any great addition of years to Malmesbury's History yet they will illustrate it and sometimes perhaps make it more full and perfect of this the Reader will have a great Experience if about the year of Christ 849 he take in the Life of Alfred written by Asser Menevensis which History as the famous Camden saith will afford no small pleasure to thy mind nor will it bring less profit than pleasure if whilst the mind is fixed on the Contemplation of those great things you endeavour wholly to conform your self to the imitation and as it were representation of them Asser Menevensis flourished about the year of Christ 910. This great Prince who was the wonder of the age in which he Lived has found many admirers since but none have so well deserved of his Memory as the Learned Sir John Spelman Son of the Great Sir Henry Spelman who wrote the Life of this Alfred King of England in three Books in English which I suppose was never Printed but an Elegant version of it in Latine with very excellent marginal Notes by the Students of Great Hall in Oxon with a great Collection of our Coins and several other great rarities was put out in Folio at the Theatre there in the year 1678 I wish we might yet have the Original English also printed And then if about the year of Christ 1060 the Reader please he may also take in Eadmerus his History which was lately brought to light and illustrated with Notes and excellent Collections by the Learned John Selden a Lawyer of rare Erudition This History contains the Reigns of William the first and second and Henry the first to wit from the year of Christ 1060 to the year 1122 in which time the Authour Lived he was very dear to Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury in those times and died Archbishop of St Andrews in Scotland himself after he had been Abbat of St. Albans in England a preferment in those days of great honour To these the Reader may add that true and faithfull History written by Matthew Paris which beginning with the Coronation of William the Conquerour Anno Christi 1067 is continued by him to the year 1253 and by another as Bale assures us to the year 1273 that is to the Death of Henry
the fourth are contained in this Chronicle which are not in any of our own Latine Historians which have hitherto been printed it begins Anno 1149 and it ends 1486 which was the second year of Henry the 7 th This last Authour belongs to the next Section where the Reader will find our Authour for want of Historians of our own Nation turning his Reader over to Polydore Virgil from the Reign of Henry the 5 th to the Reign of Richard the third much of which chasme this last Authour hath supplied but yet I would not part him from the rest but onely give the Reader this hint to what times he belongs SECT XXX Walsingham's Hypodigma Neustriae or his History of Normandy and the other Writers concerning that Dukedom not to be neglected and amongst them Odoricus Vitalis of principal note the History of England from the Reign of Henry the 5 th to that of Richard the third to be fetched from Polydore Virgil. The opinion of our Noble S. H. Savil concerning him observable Sir Thomas Moor Knight Lord Chancellor of England wrote the Reign of Richard the third F. Lord Bacon Viscount of Verulam that of Henry the 7 th the Reigns of Henry the VIII th Edward the VI th and Queen Mary Francis Goodwin Lord Bishop of Landaff wrote by way of Annals as Will Camden did that of Queen Elizabeth also THe Reader having dispatched the Chronicle of Walsingham may in the next place pursue his Hypodigma Neustriae his History of Normandy which will render the former Histories more clear and complete it containing a perfect account of the Story of that Dukedom from Rollo the first Duke of it to the 4 th year of Henry the 5 th who in the year 1416 forced Normandy after it had been Ravished and Alienated CCXX years from the English to return to its due Allegiance to the English Crown nor let the Reader think I give him this advice rashly for as it is rightly observed by the Learned Mr. Selden the ancient affairs of the Normans are so implicated and twisted with ours that if a man consider seriously of our own he cannot pass by theirs without sloath and ignorance Now Andraeas Duchenius in the year 1619 put out several Writers of the Norman History and amongst them Odericus Vitalis a Countreyman of ours who was born at Attingham in the County of Salop is the principal he wrote 13 Books of Church History the first and second of which contain the Martial Actions of the Normans in France England and Apulia in Italy to the year 1141 which was the 6 th year of the Reign of King Stephen about which time this Authour flourished But to return to our English History after Walsingham's Chronicle which as I said in the last Section ends in Henry the 5 th if our Reader thinks to find any one of our Nation who hath written our History in Latine from this time of Henry the 5 th to the Reign of Richard the third he will be much deceived except perhaps some Manuscript lies concealed in the recesses of some Libraries Consecrated to Antiquities which have not as yet seen the publick Light Therefore I will recommend to my Hearers a History which may be had that is one of the Published Authours and may be come by now here had been a vast Gap of almost LXX years if Polydore Virgil had not prevented it which in so great a scarcity of our own Authours the Studious Historian will not unwillingly take in for although as the noble Sir Henry Savil writes of him he was an Italian and a Stranger to our affairs and which is yet more never employed in any publick Station and of no great natural either Judgment or Ingenuity and although in delivering our History he has often mistaken things and passed over in silence many things worthy to be known yea has too often imbraced things that are false instead of truth and so left us a very faulty History Yet I should conceive this happened for the most part where he describes the times of Henry the VIII th for besides that he was ignorant of our Tongue he must of necessity not know many things that were then Transacted and it is highly probable he writ some things in favour of Queen Mary otherwise than he knew they were but this is not to be suspected of the former times Let our Reader therefore take the History of the two Henrys the V th and the VI th and of the two Edwards the IV th and the V th from Polydore Virgil the Reign of Richard the third who immediately follows these was written by the famous Sir Thomas Moor Knight Lord Chancellour of England who flourished about the year 1533 in the Reign of Henry the 8 th but the Learned Vossius thinks the Work imperfect because as he largely describes by what Villanies he ascended the Throne so he doth not tell us how he afterwards administred the Government and even that part which we have seems to have wanted the Authour's last hand and the Elegance of the Latine of his other Works do much exceed that of this Work Henry VIIth succeeded Richard the third whose Life and Reign was not long since represented to us by the most noble Viscount Verulam so happily and so fully that if he hath not excelled the best Historians he yet at least equall'd them this Work was first written in English but has since been turned into Latine as the preliminary Epistle to the Book call'd Gustavus saith After this let the Reader peruse the Annals of the most Reverend Bishop F. Goodwin in which the Reigns of Henry the VIII th Edward the VI th and Queen Mary are described with a great and commendable brevity Lastly the famous William Camden the Founder of the place I now enjoy and my Patron wrote the Annals of the Actions of Queen Elizabeth in England and Ireland which Queen was the most glorious and prosperous Queen that ever swayed a Sceptre for this Elogy was bestowed long since upon her by Anna Attestina the Mother of the Guises as Thuanus saith Let our Reader in the next place diligently reade this History and then tell me whether it be not comparable to the best of the ancient Annals and that with Justice and truth An ADDITION Another great man of the French Nation speaks thus of Camden although it be very natural to men to speak too advantageously of their Native Countries and that this inclination hath wrap'd some Historians to an offence against the Purity of History yet it cannot be denyed but William Camden has writ that of England with so much fidelity that he may justly claim a place amongst the most sincere Historians of the last Ages and a little after being made King at Arms the XXXIX year of the Queens Reign he made very curious Collections of all those things which he judged worthy of or usefull to an History
Inhabitants are clearly demonstrated from that Nation many old Monuments illustrated and the Commerce with that People as well as the Greeks plainly set forth and Collected out of approved Greek and Latine Authours together with a Chronological History of this Kingdom from the first traditional beginning untill the year of our Lord 800 when the Name of BRITAIN was changed into ENGLAND faithfully Collected out of the best Authours and disposed in a better method than hath hitherto been done with the Antiquities of the Saxons as well as Phoenicians Greeks and Romans Printed in Folio in London in the year 1676 Volume the first I know very well some Learned men have taken great exceptions to this Piece and have affirmed many things in it to be fabulous and I will not contest for the truth of the whole and every part of it but then I will presume to say that I have found good Authority for some of those things which some have pretended Mr. Samms invented and if we are to stay for an History which all the World approves of before we reade one our Lives will end with as little knowledge of past times as of those that are to follow us when we are dead I know any ingenious person who shall reade this piece must reap much satisfaction pleasure and delight from it John Milton who was Latine Secretary to Oliver Cromwell a Learned ingenious but a very factious man wrote the History of Britain that part especially that is called England from the first traditional beginning of it to the Norman Conquest Collected out of the ancientest and best Authours as he saith it was printed 1670 and 1671 in Quarto and in 1678 in Octavo The style and composure of this History is delicate short and perspicuous and it is of the greater value because few of our English Writers begin to any purpose before the Norman Conquest passing over all those times that went before it with a slight hand Doctour John Heyward writ the History of the first Norman Kings William the Conquerour William Rufus and Henry the first he lived in the times of King James and was a Civilian and a very candid true and Learned Writer Samuel Daniel writ the Collection of the History of England where in making some short reflexions on the State of Britain and the Succession of the Saxons he descends to William the Conquerour and the Norman Kings and ends with the Reign of Edward the third Anno Domini 1376. It is written with great brevity and Politeness and his Political and Moral Reflexions are very fine usefull and instructive John Trussel continued this History with the like brevity and truth but not with equal Elegance till the end of the Reign of Richard the third Anno Domini 1484. In that Period or interval of time which Daniel hath written there are two Lives writ by two several Pens the first is the Life of Henry the third writ by that Learned wise and ingenious Gentleman Sir Robert Cotton Knight in a Masculine style with great labour and pains and with a Loyal design The Second is a piece which was lately Printed with this Title the History of the Life Reign and Death of Edward the II King of England and Lord of Ireland with the Rise and Fall of his great Favorites Gaveston and the Spencers written by E. F. in the year 1627 and Printed verbatim from the Original in the year 1680. Who this E. F. was I know not but that he was under the Dominion of a mighty Discontent is apparent by his short Preface to the Reader his first words there are these To out-run those weary hours of a deep and sad Passion my melancholy Pen fell accidentally saith he on this Historical Relation which speaks A King our own though one of the most unfortunate and shews the Pride and fall of his inglorious Minions If this Book was really written when pretended it may be probably conjectured this Male-Content had a mighty Spleen against the then Duke of Buckingham who being baited this year by the Commons in Parliament fell a Sacrifice to popular discontent the year following which with some other things to me unknown might occasion the suppressing this History then and it had been as well if it had never been Printed being partial to the highest degree and designed to encourage rather than suppress Rebellion Sedition and Treason and now why it was raked up out of the Dust and Printed when it was I shall leave the World to guess onely I cannot for bear observing the Authour was more ingenuous than the Publisher not onely because he concealed it but also because he had undoubtedly set down the causes of his discontent in the beginning of his Preface which are omitted in the Print for those weary hours must relate to something before exprest to perfect the nse Within this Period of time belonging to Trussel falls in the Life of Henry the IV th written by Dr. Heyward and also the Life of Edward the IV th written very Elegantly and Prudently by William Habington Esquire and the Life of Richard the third written by George Buck Gent. Francis Bio●di and Italian Gentleman and of the Privy Chamber to King Charles the first hath written in the Italian Tongue the Civil Wars between the two Houses of Lancaster and York from King Richard the second to King Henry the VIII th translated Elegantly into English saith Sir Richard Baker by Henry Earl of Monmouth Sir Francis Bacon Viscount St. Albans writ the History of Henry the 7 th in a most Elegant style Edward Lord Herbert of Sherbury hath writ the Life of Henry the Eighth with great Exactness and Accuracy as he was a person of great industry and capacity He was put upon this Work by King Charles the first and consulted all our Records Dr. John Heyward wrote the Life of Edward the VIth very Elegantly and as much of that Prince's Reign and that of Queen Mary was spent in matters of Religion so Dr. Peter Heylin in his Ecclesia Anglicana Restaurata has given a very good account of their two Reigns and also Dr. Gilbert Burnet in his History of the Reformation in two Volumes in Folio which is excellently Epitomized by himself in Octavo Though these two chiefly intend the Ecclesiastical History of those times yet they have carefully intermixt the Civil History also especially Burnet who with his History hath published many Original Records of those times which do purely belong to the Civil History Sir William Dugdale one of the Kings of Arms in England hath writ two Books which he styles the Baronage of England being an excellent History of the Successions of all the noble Families of England which is of excellent use to the well understanding of the English History Sir Richard Baker hath written a Chronicle of the Kings of England from the times of the Romans Government unto the Death of King James to which the Reign of Charles the first